Untapped territory: ‘Tsunami’ continues to bypass Gilgit

Locals claim Imran Khan only visits the scenic valleys for leisure and is oblivious to their concerns .

GILGIT:

As ‘aggressive opposition’ of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) stirs politics in the country’s plains, the situation is reversed when it comes to the politics of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

Even though PTI Chairman Imran Khan visits G-B’s scenic valleys, including Astore, Naltar and Skardu during the summer, he has never undertaken an official visit to organise his party in the region. Apart from the PTI chief, none of the party’s senior leadership has visited G-B, leaving PTI cold in the remote region with no need for any sort of healthy opposition.



As elections are due anytime from October to early 2014 – the present legislative assembly’s term is near completion – chances of a ‘tsunami’ in the region are next to nothing.

To make matters more confusing, both Sabir and Hashmat groups lay claim to be the reliable representatives of Imran Khan in G-B. No attempts have been made by the party’s central leadership to settle the dispute between the two groups and put the party’s affairs on track.

“It is disgusting that Imran Khan is not interested in the region’s politics,” says Tufail Ahmed, a diehard supporter of the former cricket captain.

“Instead of caring about the much-ignored people of G-B, he is more interested in the area’s natural beauty,” lamented Ahmed, referring to the PTI chief’s leisure visits to G-B.

Following the introduction of a self-governance order for G-B in 2009 that brought the region almost at par with a province, most political party chiefs, including Nawaz Sharif, Yousaf Raza Gilani and Fazlur Rahman, have visited G-B to woo voters for their local candidates. However, Imran Khan did not make the trip and subsequently PTI fielded only one candidate in the 2009 elections which were clinched by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with a clear majority.

Despite Imran’s increasing popularity as one of the leading politicians of Pakistan and his party’s rise as the third biggest in the National Assembly after the 2013 general elections, G-B still remained absent on Imran’s electoral map.

“The party is in disarray and lacks representation at the grass-root level, with a strong possibility of not winning a single seat in the upcoming elections,” said a PTI member, requesting not to be named.

“Khan sahib talks of a ‘Naya Pakistan’ but he hasn’t paid any attention to us. Aren’t we part of Pakistan” asked the party worker.

“He just focuses on things which add to his popularity which is why he is silent on corrupt practices in G-B,” said a member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Political pundits believe with a substantial presence of PPP, PML-N, PML-Quaid and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and strong backing from their leadership, it is unlikely that PTI will be able to enter the G-B Legislative Assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2014.